The easiest way to vote is to go to a voting place in your electorate during the voting period. There’ll be someone there to show you where to go and what to do. However if you can’t get to a voting place, there are other options available to you.

Information about where, when and how to vote is available closer to election day for any general election or by-election. This information will also be in your EasyVote information pack, which you will receive about a week before election day, or on freephone 0800 36 76 56.

If you have an EasyVote card take it with you when you go to vote and give it to the person issuing your voting paper. It will help them find you on the electoral roll. They’ll ask you your name and address then give you a voting paper. If you don’t have an EasyVote card, you will need to give the person issuing your vote your full name and address.

If your name isn’t on the printed roll at the voting place, you’ll need to fill in an extra form.

If you already know who you want to vote for then advance voting is useful if you won’t be in your electorate on election day, or won’t be able to vote on election day.

I still don’t know who I’m going to vote for and will probably wait until election day, Saturday 23 September.

Big and potential game changing news seems to have all come out, but there could still be revelations between now and election day.

Remember that the ridiculous cafe meeting between John Key and John Banks two weeks before the 2011 election, when the recording of their conversation was recorded, gave Winston Peters (with the help of some media) the opportunity to attract attention and probably votes, and it may have stopped National from getting an outright majority.

Parties may still drip feed election bribes – that is very unlikely to change my mind unless they get stupidly profligate.

There will be at least one more poll (Roy Morgan is due this week) to give us a better idea where voting preferences lie.

So I will wait and observe right through to Saturday week, but an increasing number of people take advantage of the voting being open for two weeks.

7 Comments

Gezza

Nope. I never vote early. My voting intentions always remain only probabilities until Election Day. Right up until then I leave it open to change in case it turns up on 1ewes the nite before that my preferred candidate is an idiot or a crook, or the Party Leader doesn’t like spuds.

Gezza

Ma rang in a right old state! Mary had been on the blower & told her she heard on the radio they are not sending out voting papers this time, that you have to pick them up at the Polling Booth, & so she rsng the number for election enquiries – and they’d told her that was right – they wpuld have the papers there!

Ma was upset. She said she hasn’t had a letter & her voting papers from the Electoral Commission like all the other times! Had I? I said: No! She said that means thousands of lazy ass people won’t vote – it’ll be a disaster! I said: Christ! Only Act, National, & Top supporters will vote, ma!

Then I said: Wait a minute ma. Which Mary are we talking about? Your best friend Mary in Waikanae, or your sister Mary? She said : My sister Mary! I said: She’s a nutter ma! You know that! She’s probably got it all wrong!

Ma rang back 20 minutes later: Mary got it all wrong! They’re sending out Easy Vote Cards! I said: That’s good ma! Your life’s always much less stressful when your sister decides it’s your turn for her not to speak to you for months, instead of one of her kids!

Kitty Catkin

Something came for me today, but as I had already voted, I didn’t bother to open it. I was in town, saw a booth, went in, told them my name, they checked off Kitty Catkin at my address, gave me the paper and I went behind the screen and dunnit.Who needs easy voting ? How much easier can it be than that ?